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Tradition Side by Side With The Word of God
Shalom, brethren, we are glad to bring to you our latest sermon review, where we had an interesting time dissecting the topic, “Tradition side by side with the word of God”. We had an introduction to this sermon which emphasised on why we ought to be careful of our last spiritual or physical victory (win, achievement, or success),“your last victory is your greatest enemy” ; it can either be a blessing to you or a curse. Most times, the devil tries to make us celebrate around our last victory and then we fail to move forward. A believer is meant to break off this bait and seek for progress, because celebrating our last win is a tool in the hand of the devil which we need to be aware of, so we won’t be trapped in stagnation.
TEXT: Deuteronomy 8: 2, Matthew 15: 1, Mark 7: 1, Genesis 2: 7, Hebrews 12: 4, I Samuel 17: 1,
BODY SPIRIT SOUL
Definition of a Man:
A man is both a male and a female, the term, “man” is not emphatically talking about a male child. A man in his original state is a spirit being that lives in the body and has a soul. But we need to understand that the law of territory will not allow a spirit to operate in this present realm, and that is why we don’t see spirits around with our natural eyes because we are in a natural body (Genesis 2:7). So, basically, a man comprises three things namely: Spirit, Soul and Body. Our emphasis on today’s review was more on the soul of man. The soul of man serves as a connection between his body and his spirit and it comprises three things, namely: Emotions, will, and mind. To have a full understanding of these components, please continue below.
The Mind (Romans 8: 6)
One of the greatest things that can make or destroy a man is the mind. It’s a component of the soul that transmits virtually every behavioural attitude that the outward man (body) portrays. So, over time, the reactions of every man is dependent on the state of the mind. Note: “The mind has two states as described in romans 8, it’s either in a spiritual state or a carnal state.” Brethren, these two states are attained by what is being fed to the mind and they are resultbound. A carnal state of mind produces death while a spiritual state of mind produces life and peace. It simply means that what the mind is fed with determines its actual state and the impulses it sends to the body to react on.
Relating from our text (Deuteronomy 8: 2), the bible emphasises on bread, which explains what we feed our natural body with, which in the real sense is necessary. But there is more to life than bread for survival. The word of God is paramount to every believer for survival. The question to ask is: Have we not prioritized the bread for the body over the bread for the soul? If we understand the reason we have the soul, we’ll know that every of our success as believers depends on it, so anything you feed your soul (mind) with determines your physical output, be it to the positive or negative. The mind appears to be a powerful component of the soul that God has given us, and you cannot grow beyond your mind. If you do not engage in activities that will spore your mind to greatness, you cannot achieve it.
Taking it from the physical angle, if the natural body is starved, the body will retard, the same principle holds in the spiritual. The spirit man only lives on the word of God. If you starve the spirit man the food it needs, overtime it will get used to spiritual hunger and what follows is stunted growth in all aspect of your spiritual life, and that’s why you need to have this understanding that the soul can never be idle, it is wired to always find something to feed on, you either prioritize getting your physical body fat and spirit man lean or vice versa. The scriptures says, “If you faint in time of adversity, it is because your strength is small” and a man who has small strength in days of adversities has not fed his spirit man properly.
Our mind is so lame that if we don’t drive it, it will remain the same way with whatever information we have stored in it, and that’s why a man that has decided to feed himself with the word of God will react differently from the way a carnal man will react, because a carnally minded man is dead compared to a spiritually minded man who is full of life and peace. This goes to tell us that if we want our spirit man to grow, we have to be deliberate about it, there is no magic to spiritual growth, a man whose goal is to be eternal in nature must be filled by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God.
Mind Renewal (Romans 12: 1 -3)
What should be the pursuit of a serious minded believer should be the renewal of the mind, because by nature we are bound, sharpen in sin. This is why the mind renewal process is a necessity for spiritual growth according to the kingdom principles. The mind is receptive to loads of information that need to be processed in order to pick the right ones to dwell on. And if this is not done, the spirit man is obliged to suffer. Brethren, the mind renewal process is essential!
DAVID A SPIRITUALLY MINDED MAN
David, in 1 Samuel 17: 23 is an example of spiritually minded man who has fed himself well to withstand adversity. He was a man who was under cover (Word of God) and had the right thought when problem came, he wasn’t viewing things from the carnal perspective like most of us do when we are faced with little challenges, we get so carried away that our natural reflex is carnality. This happens because we are out of cover (Word of God). Brethren, to be a man who decides situations by authority, you need to be under cover – The Word of God. With it, you can command situations to what you want it to be, this, we saw in the life of David.
David was a man who had experiences according to the scriptures; more reason you need to ask yourself if you have experiences you can relate with by the scriptures. The spiritual mind thinks what the bible says about situations, but a carnal mind thinks death, we can see this in the reactions of his brothers, they were thinking death and David was seeing victory (A spiritual Man Mindset).
We also need to learn how David stood by what he had proved (Word of God) to tackle the devil in time of trouble, even when Saul proposed a fighting tool, he stuck to what he had confirmed from his experiences. Brethren, if you don’t have the word of God in you, you cannot prove it, because the devil in your entire walk with God will always challenge the essence of your belief. You need to have the word of God in you to be able to respond to the darts of the devil and you can do this by taking actions – it is not enough to know the word of God, a complete task is to know the word of God and take actions, just like David did against goliath.
In conclusion, brethren, whatever you have planned to become in the vineyard of God, if your mind is not built to receive it you cannot become it. Involve yourself in activities that will give you life and peace, because to be carnally minded is death and to be spiritually minded is life and peace. So, seek to have the word of God daily to renew your mind and lighten your path.
Shalom, Saints.
Why Must We Be Born Again?
We approached the topic considering the discussion of Nicodemus with Jesus Christ concerning the issue of salvation. The most misinterpreted subject of the scripture is the subject of salvation; this becomes necessary to go back to the bible to know the nitty gritty of salvation so we don’t jeopardize our eternal life. To understand the message of salvation, we need to understand the creation of man.
TEXT: Genesis 1:26, Isaiah 40:6-8, 1Corinthians 15:21, 45-46, 1Timothy 2:13-14, Genesis 4:1-, 2Corinthians 11:1-4, Proverbs 30:18-19, Psalms 51:5
IMAGE AND LIKENESS
When God was to create man, he proclaimed creating him in both his ‘image’ and ‘likeness’, these are two different things. ‘Image’ talks about the spiritual nature of man; ‘likeness’ talks about the physical characteristics of man. This means that after the fall of the first man, Adam, man generally loses to be in the image of God. The first man was created perfect, only he was created in the image and likeness of God.
It is also important to know that although we are the ‘creation of God’, we were not created by God. How do I mean? There was a law of creation that we see in Genesis 1:24, the earth was to bring forth living creatures after their kind, meaning after the creation of the first Adam, every other man to be on earth will come from him, he was to continue with the procreation.
This will give us hint as to how we became sinners -we came forth after the fall. So what made you a sinner is not the lie you told, or the fornication you committed, you were born a sinner, your nature was tainted. However, nothing was wrong with the nature of Adam in itself.
THE FALL
We’ve all read that Adam and Eve fell into transgression, and that is why we became sinners, but what is the transgression? It is not possible for them to have eaten Apple or any fruit (like the general belief) and by that, we became sinners. First, understand that the soul displays the character of a man. So, what the descendant of Adam lost was the image of God. And the original nature of man which was supposed to be after the image of God cannot be lost by eating any fruit that God created.
Let consider from this angle: Eve at the beginning was not called Eve, she was called the woman; the fall made her name changed to Eve. And Eve means the ‘mother of all living’. That seems to be a promotion right? But it’s not, something is wrong. Eve, called the mother of all living signifies that all the offspring on the earth was from Eve but not necessarily from Adam.
Here’s another way to understand: in Genesis 4, when the children was to be introduced, the Bible says that Abel was a keeper of the sheep but Cain was the tiller of the ground. Why the word “But?” the conjunction, but is usually used to separate two different things. So if the children were from both parent, ‘and’ should be the conjunction. We found out that in scripture that Eve was the one that named Cain; and if a child is named by the woman and the man is silent, something is wrong with the paternity! Have you considered that the name “Cain” means “acquired?” also, when God was passing the judgement,
CONSIDERING THE WORD “DECEIVED AND SUBTLE”
When God confronted the woman after their sin, she said that ‘the serpent deceived her.’ In the Greek context, the word ‘deceived’ means ‘cheat, or to be cheated.’ Adam did not cheat, nor was he cheated; he was not cheated because he had not met with Eve before. Eve cheated herself, or we say that the serpent cheated Eve through his subtlety.
From scriptures, we found out that the word ‘subtle’ was not so used, but when used, it’s either a virgin was deceived, [2Samuel 13:1-5, Matthew 26:4, 2Corinthians 11:3] or someone’s inheritance has been taken away, [Genesis 27:35].
In the case of Eve, she was deceived (cheated) by the serpent subtly, which shows to us that Eve was a virgin.
Adam was not deceived, he did not fall into the transgression, he only took a stand with his wife, which was exactly what God wanted him to do, which was also a prototype of what Jesus was coming to do.
THE OFFERING –BLOOD
After a while that the two seeds were to bring offering, they each displayed what they were made up of –their nature. The offering is not an offering of thanksgiving, no, it was an offering of identification. But there is need of a revelation of what went wrong so as to know what to give God. If apple was what caused the fall, then apple is needed in your salvation.
The first blood that was spilled on earth was the blood of Eve, the serpent fornicated with Eve, and being a virgin, her blood was spilled. Thus, in the redemption process of salvation, blood is needed. Of course, Adam must have explained to them how they fell, but Cain, because he was an outsider wouldn’t accept revelation; when he was to bring his offering, he brought fruits. But by revelation, Abel brought a lamb and slain it. Blood is needed!
This two seeds are separated, thus, the lineage of God through Adam was spelt out from the lineage of the serpent through Cain. We inherited the serpentine nature, not from Adam, but from the time of Noah, when they inter married. Intermarriage is what brought about blood group. In the beginning, it was not so.
When God was to rewrite his Bible in Genesis 5, the bible says that Adam begat Seth; nothing was said about Cain and Abel. Abel was from Adam, but was killed, and then was replaced by Seth. The name Seth means “Replace” He was the one that continued the lineage of Adam before intermarriage set in.
THE NATURE OF THE SERPENT –MAN BECAME GRASS!
The serpent was not a snake, he was a beast, close to man, who could understand and speak the language of man. And being a beast, his food was grass. So when the devil was able to subtly creep into the lineage of man through this serpent, to Eve, infusing his seed into the womb of the woman, and intermarriage set in during the time of Noah, man became grass. The intermarriage was what made man to become grass, even as God said in Isaiah 40:6-7. So in order for God to redeem man back to Himself, he needed to flush away the beast nature that we inherited. And this was promised through the last man.
THE LAST ADAM, SALVATION GUARANTEED!
God created man twice, -the first Adam, and the last Adam. They are the two principal men God created, in which our first and second birth would come from respectively! Again, Adamic nature is not a bad nature, so God did not send Jesus to us to redeem us from Adamic nature.
The first Adam was ‘earthy’, not spiritual. But because we’ve inherited a wrong nature, we need to be born again. How?
God came into Jesus, to reconcile the world, (those who belong to him) back to himself. So, when Nicodemus came, Jesus told him, “Ye must be born of the water and the Spirit”. That is the law of salvation, which without it, no man can be saved.
Did The Apostles Make Mistake at Pentecost II ?
We approached the second aspect of the last topic under consideration yesterday which is, “Did the Apostles make mistake at Pentecost?” and elucidated the position of women in the church of God. Is there a mistake in the order Paul set in the church.
Let me reiterate that God is unquestionable! You have to follow God by faith; faith is the revelation of the word of God. We are called to the obedience of the word of God, so you don’t judge God by your intellect! You can’t modify God’s way! God will never change his mind concerning His word.
WHAT DOES IT MEAN FOR WOMEN NOT TO SPEAK? (1CORINTHIANS 14:34)
Apostle Paul said that women are not permitted to speak in the church. Does it mean they should be mute whenever they enter the church premise? No! God gives talents, skills and gifts liberally, and so, we could have women minister in the musical department, they can prophecy, see vision, dance, shout and rejoice in the presence of their Creator. You and I know that in all these activities, they speak. Have they transgressed? No! So, we need to understand the language of the Bible.
“Speak” in that context talks about a position of authority. There is a particular position in the church of God which is not given for women to occupy. They are free to participate in every other aspect except for this position of authority.
Women have their wonderful position. In the creation of God, he made both male and female, which means that both gender have their respective function and position. And you need to know who you are so you can function accordingly, you can never get the best of all that is freely given to you if you don’t know who you are. A man can never take the place of a woman, neither can a woman; contrary to this law of creation is perversion –if you’re taking another’s place, you are in perversion. A man is not created to conceive- that assignment is given to women.
The Bible says that the wife is the glory of the husband. They’re to be well taken care of and not to be treated as slaves. Showing your wife love is your responsibility as a husband. That is your position!
TEACHING
Whether the church teaches geography, mathematics or physics is not the question here, a true church of God only teaches the Word of God. Considering the environment of this word “teach”, it shows that what women are not permitted to teach is not an academic course, but rather the word of God.
The ministering of the Word of God is given to the ascension gifts which is the fivefold ministry (Ephesians 4 : 11). The Holy Ghost strictly separated that office for men.
However, this is not just established in the New Testament church; that has been God’s standard from the beginning. Let’s see it:
We found out that Paul made reference to the law and if we should look at when God called Aaron, he anointed Aaron and his sons into the priesthood office. Did Aaron have daughters? Yes! Numbers 18:11 made us know this. But they weren’t anointed to function in that regard.
When Jesus was to have his apostles, he selected 12 men. And though he had women following him, they had their place. But as regards calling people into the ministry, Jesus only gave that responsibility to men.
WHAT IS THE MINISTRY OF THE WOMEN?
Women surely have their ministry. We can see that in the ministry of Jesus Christ. We have Mary Magdalene, Joanna and Susanna, who ministered to Jesus ‘from their substances’. The ministry of the woman is to take care of the ministry. If you as a woman want to be blessed, stay in your position, take care of the home, take care of the ministry and take care of your pastor.
Another ministry women have is a life ministry! How do I mean? From the understanding of scriptures, it becomes explicit to us that women can win unbelievers to Christ when they behold their chaste conduct coupled with respect (1Peter 3:1-2). From the respect they give to their husband, the way they present themselves publicly, to the way they take care of their family, they should preach Christ to their neighbours, such that their testimonies would make unbelievers believe.
So, brethren, there is no mistake when the bible says that women should not teach in the church. Rather, the Holy Ghost has ordered His church on how to operate.
Blessed are you if you submit yourself to the word of God!
Did The Apostles Make Mistake At Pentecost?
Once again we welcome you to our latest review as we continue in this year’s camp meeting. This evening, the Holy Spirit through His servant explained to us the declaration of the apostles on the day of Pentecost on the right water baptism doctrine which is a coded instruction Jesus gave them in Matthew 28:19. This birthed the question of whether what the apostles establish by the revelation of the holy Spirit was a mistake; We found out that Jesus told them to go preach to the world and baptise them in the name of the father, and of the son and of the Holy Spirit, but when the day came, Peter instructed that everyone should be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins; what!? Was that a mistake, or they knew what they were saying?
Text: Matthew 28:19, Luke 24:49, Act 2:37-39, Malachi 4:5-6, 1Corinthians 3:11, Ephesians 2:20, Romans 6:3
To go straight to the answer to the question, –the apostles of Jesus Christ did not make mistake, rather, they did exactly what Jesus told them to do. I’m sure you might be curious to ask why?
First, it is important to know that everything is existing by the word of God, including you! God spoke you to life before you could be, thus, you need that word of God to go back to God. This is the reason we should not joke with the word of God –only the truth sets free, the bible says. In this world where the prophecy of Paul has been fulfilled, and we’ve got so many wrong doctrines, it is expedient to seek and know the truth; remember the word of God is settled, you don’t have to change it, all you have to do is trust and obey to be saved!
THE PROCESS TO THE APOSTLE’S STAND ON THE DAY OF PENTECOST
Brethren, we need to understand that the apostles didn’t just stand up to propagate what they were not convinced about – At all!, what was declared were under the guidance and directions of the Holy Spirit, because they were people who followed every instruction Jesus Christ gave them, one of which was an instruction to wait for the Spirit of truth.
When the word of God is given, you need to wait for the Spirit of Revelation to decode the word given to you. If you are not endowed with that ability from the Spirit of God, you will only promote self. Contrary to what many attention seekers would do, the apostles after that instruction still obeyed Jesus and waited until they were endowed, as they were instructed in Luke 24:49. But instead of waiting for that Spirit of revelation today, many have substituted it for theological or seminary schooling. You can’t get by certificate what you should get by revelation.
The apostles waited for ten days before they could have the revelation of Jesus’ statement in Matthew 28:19-20, and indeed, after the promise of the father came to them, even the Spirit of Truth, they got the revelation and God were pleased to lay the foundation of the New Testament church through these men that day. If this is the case, then, the apostles never made mistake, and it therefore becomes a sin of blasphemy to say that they made mistake. May God forgive our professors-turned-preachers who are saying such.
Think about it, if God would lay a faulty foundation, didn’t Jesus then die in vain? Is the church not in mess already? If the Bible says we are built upon the faith of the apostles (Ephesians, and their foundation was wrong, then, our salvation should be questioned).
So, although Jesus gave them that instruction of baptism, he also told them to wait, which they did, and God would not put those who wait on him to shame, He definitely will come to their rescue.
What a glorious moment it was after they’ve waited and the day of Pentecost came, the Spirit of God came upon them, and by revelation; Peter stood to provide solution to the misconception of people who thought the apostles were drunk. Peter spoke in his language, and many people who came from all walks of life understood him. That was more than what Peter could do, that was the Holy Spirit at work! No sooner than the Spirit of Revelation explained Himself to the people that they cried out for salvation. And the bible says, “They were baptized in the name of Jesus Christ.”
WHAT IS THE REVELATION OF MATTHEW 28:19?
Like we know, Jesus truly told them to baptize in the name of the father and of the son and of the Holy Ghost. But come to think of it, ‘father’ is not a name. You could probably be a father, or perhaps a ‘son’ to someone, but that can never be your name. You’ve got your name! All of those are titles. Fatherhood is a position a man occupies when he gives birth to a child. And as a father that he is, he is also a son to someone, isn’t he? But that is not his name still.
Or if you would write a check for someone to go withdraw money from your account, what would you input as his identity to qualify him to have that check; his name or his titles? Of course, his name! Although he has those titles to himself (he could be a father, a son, and a teacher to someone).
So Jesus told them to baptize in the name of father, son and Holy Ghost. So, here, we need revelation of what that name is, because all of those are not name. When that Spirit of revelation came, Peter stood and said, “Repent, and be baptised in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ”. That is the name of the father, and of the son and of the Holy Spirit –even the name, Jesus Christ!
It is this name you take to the river to be baptised with. Yes, baptise! You don’t sprinkle water and call that baptism, you don’t pass under a flag or canopy that has the name of Jesus Christ written on it and call that baptism, you are jeopardizing your life. Baptism is immersion in water, it signifies that a man is buried with Christ, so that when Christ is risen, he can also be risen with Him. Baptism has a vital role to play in your salvation. It is the criterium for having the Holy Spirit (Act 2:38). And to show more of its essence, in Cornelius’ house, when God bypassed the knowledge of Peter to baptise Cornelius and his household with the Holy Spirit, they were still instructed to baptise in the name of Jesus Christ. Without it, you cannot see God at the end. The Bible says that we will be saved if we believe and we baptise! (Mark 16:16).
So, brethren, work out your salvation by obeying this simple instruction. You can’t get by fasting what you should get by obedience! Fasting for hundred days would not bring you the salvation of your soul. Don’t gamble with your soul, it is precious! No one is doubting if the apostles of Jesus Christ went to heaven, so if you want to be where they’ve gone to, do what they do –repent and be baptised in the name of Jesus Christ. And thereafter watch how God will be cleansing your life, and taking away all that you’re struggling with.
There is a great reward if we can only submit and obey the word of God. May God grant us help! Amen!
Orderliness In The Church
It pleased the Lord to gather his eagles this year for another time of refreshment in His presence. As we commenced fully the service of the camp, we were reminded that our purpose of coming to camp is to hear the word of God that will transform our lives to meet up with the requirement of God for the lively expectation that is ahead of us –the rapture! Surely, God is interested in your character for the kingdom He is preparing for His own. The Bible enjoins those who have a lively hope to do everything decently and in order.
TEXT: 1Corinthians 11:27, 1Corinthians 14:33, Hebrew 12:18-19, 22-24, 1Corinthians 14:31, James 1:17, 1Corinthians 14:13, Philippian 1:17, Matthew 26:50, Romans 16:3, II Samuel 3:20, Leviticus 21:5, 2 Samuel 10:5
Our first sermon for the camp emphasizes on orderliness in the church; brethren it is imperative that we know that decency should be imbibed into all that we do: in ministering, in conduct, and in gifting; there shouldn’t be competition amongst us. We need to pray to God to make us useful in the right way, and that means that God should put whatever we want to do in order, so that we will not do them in vain.
The Bible says “wisdom is the principal thing”. So much as we appreciate every gift of God, we need the wisdom of God to be able to appropriately understand what God is saying. God has His servants (the fivefold ministry) in His church who are overseers of the church. Therefore, if you are a gifted person, be submissive enough to relate your vision, or dream to your pastor. He is the shepherd of the church, nothing should go forth or come in without his knowledge else, you are not in order. The gift of God in the church should not be without control because disorderliness can cause problem in a church.
More so, it is good to take stand with someone who takes stand with the truth (It is good to take stand with your pastor), but please, stand right! Take a right stand by him with good intention, and not for attention! Don’t be upfront because you want your pastor to fix you into a position! When you are taking side with the man of God, know that you are taking side with Jesus Christ. So, do it as unto the Lord, with good intention. Don’t be as Joab was to David (2Samuel 3:28-29)–when you’re standing by your pastor with a wrong motive, you are adding problem to him.
Don’t turn your opinion to a revelation from the Lord, if you do that, you are committing sin. It’s okay to give your opinion about a thing, but neither should you force it on people nor call it ‘thus saiths the Lord’.
A man’s maturity is tested in His orderliness. Knowledge is good, but it’s not enough without experience. Thus, the experience that God takes you through will breed you into being able to rightly use your knowledge or gift.
God bless you, brethren.
After The Trials And Temptations
Shalom and welcome to our newest sermon review! To crown up the topic we’ve been considering, we dived into the aftermath of trials after we’ve passed. Like we’ve established in our previous review that trials are training tools in the hand of God to work upon us as Christians, and thus it’s for a while; the goal for us as believer is to be in the process portraying the right attitudes per time. when we can successfully graduate from our trials; taking time to learn and drop the needful, then God can trust us enough to wrought his blessings upon us.
Texts: GALATIANS 3:13, GENESIS 12:1-3, GENESIS 17:10, JOHN 14:26, 1 PETER 3:5, GENESIS 18:12, ROMANS 4:11, ROMANS 3:29, ISAIAH 55:10-11, ISAIAH 54:4, DEUTERONOMY 8:2-3, 1 PETER 5:10, LUKE 22:37 ISAIAH 54:4-8,15, ISAIAH 57:4-5, ISAIAH 51:7-18,21-22
Throughout the scriptures, God has always been a fountain of blessings, which means that everything He does will eventually yield blessing on us. Again, trials, tests and temptations have their good side inasmuch as it’s coming from our loving father; God subjects you through the odds because he wants to prove you, and guess what? God will not use the Holy Spirit to test the Holy Spirit, rather He uses the devil to test the Holy Spirit. One of the reasons God took the Jews through the wilderness was to humble them through test and trails. The Bible said God subjected them to hunger, so that they can know that ‘man doesn’t live by bread alone’, they had to tested to see if they can command God’s promise of blessing into existence, but they couldn’t because of their attitudes. Brethren our attitude towards the promise of God would either make us lose the blessing or have it; so we ought to be men and women of character as God takes us through our trying time, because it surely will end in praises. You may not understand, but you have to follow Him by Faith. Amen. We could learn that from our father of faith.
God came to Abram, and instructed him to leave his kinsmen to a land where He will show him, and God promised to make him a great nation, and in him, all the families of the earth will be blessed; Abram obeyed, even when he never knew where God was taking him to, he took a step of faith, and he served God genuinely, he didn’t robbed God of tithes (he offered the tenth of all to Melchizedek when he met him on the way after coming back from the battle), neither did he robbed God of offering (he could offer the only son he had when God placed a demand on him, even after many years of childlessness, he was ready to die without a child, he kept his faith). After he passed all, God came down and swore by Himself that he was going to bless Him. Yes, God promised Abraham at first when he called him, but he didn’t send down the blessing instantly, Abraham had to pass all that God took him through in other to affirm the blessings. The same holds for us; God’s blessing will manifest in your life when you’ve successfully passed every test and trails that God takes you through.
Let’s examine the connection of Abraham’s Blessing to The Gentiles.
Although God divided the world into two (Jews and Gentiles), the Jews were given the law and a covenant of circumcision was established with them, for the Gentiles, they weren’t given the law neither were they given the covenant of circumcision, but God who is all knowing made provision for the two world (Jews and Gentiles) by engrafting the gentiles into the blessing of Abraham, and this came to reality after Abraham had successfully passed all his ordained trails, it automatically qualified him to be the Father of them all, making him have two seeds -the natural seed (Jews by law) and the spiritual seed (Gentiles by faith in Christ Jesus).
So, we can buoyantly claim the blessing of Abraham, because we have the faith of Abraham. And it’s worthy of note that as seed of Abraham who have the faith of Abraham, we must do the works of Abraham. That is when we are truly children of Abraham and we can claim to be partakers of Abraham’s Blessing.
The dealing of God with the Jews is physical, but for the Gentiles, it’s spiritual, therefore, all the blessings of Abraham enjoyed by the natural seed also belongs to us spiritually, because we are part of Him, and this doesn’t not exclude physical blessings, inasmuch as God blessed them in all ramifications, we also are partakers of this blessings.
How do we get into the blessing of Abraham?
For the natural seeds, they got into the blessing by accepting God’s provided way; God made with them a covenant of natural circumcision, which was practically done by cutting off the surplus flesh, God took this covenant serious such that anyone who refuses to circumcise will be killed, and thus is not a seed of Abraham. Now For the spiritual seeds, the spiritual covenant God made with us is a spiritual circumcision of the heart (Holy Spirit), and anyone who doesn’t have the spirit of God dwelling in him is not of God, and he is not a seed of Abraham. Then how do you possess the blessing? we get into the blessing of Abraham by being part of the spiritual covenant. So, you need to ask yourself sincerely “do I have the Holy Spirit?”
Without the Holy Spirit dwelling in you, all your spiritual labour is in vain, and since God promised Abraham that in him, all the families of the earth will be blessed, there’s no blessing coming on you if you don’t have God’s Spirit. As a matter of fact, the blessing of Abraham upon us as Gentiles is the Holy Spirit, for that is our Sabbath (spiritual rest) and Promise Land.
Therefore, let not your heart be weary, as long as you’re in Christ, the blessing of God is upon you, and God will bring every of his promises to pass in your life. Your trial is for a while, and at the end, it’ll turn for your testimony. All you need to do is to keep walking in the steps of faith of Abraham, and God will promote you.
Shalom.
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